Breaking her despair
by Whisper Yoyo
Summary: My first request, CRed1988. A FemUlquiorraXIchigo story. Ulquiorra has roamed the deserts of Hueco Mundo for who knows how long. Her entire life riddled with despair and uncertainty, until a chance encounter with a certain orange haired human boy changes both of their lives, forever. OOC and AU.
1. Despair

**[My first request fic. Requested by CRed1988]**

* * *

 **[Hueco Mundo]**

Darkness.

Empty.

Soulless.

Emotionless.

These were the traits that arrived when talking about a certain, bat-like Vasto Lorde in the world of hollows. This particular Vasto was drastically different from others. Its power was one thing, destructive and powerful in nature, but its personality was strange. To any hollow that encountered this particular hollow and survived, they could describe 'her' in one word.

Despair.

This Vasto Lorde seemingly leaked despair. It was like a virus. Spreading from one hollow to the next, causing a few to go crazy. 'Her' power was the cause of this despair. 'She' had no control over it as her soul was nothing more than an empty shell. A rusty trap.

The Vasto Lorde was shaped like a large bat with black fur completely over a 'human' figure. Its large black wings expanded to be about its height if not longer. The strange white mask over its face and those piercing eyes gave all the indication that anyone needed to avoid this particular hollow. As time went on and its power continued to grow, the Vasto Lorde decided to seek out a purpose. A reason for living, for existing. Anything to break the cycle of despair in the place where its heart soul be. What could possibly be out there though to quell that emptiness in its life?

Today was just like every other day for it. Wondering from place to place in the endless desert that 'she' just one day woke up in. No memory of how 'she' got there or what 'she' was now. Just desert and emptiness. The Vasto Lorde stood atop a sand dune and looked up to the sky with its blacked out eyes and yellow iris'. Still wondering what its purpose was in this land. Deciding that standing there got it nowhere, the Vasto spread its wings and ascended into the air at high speeds, but no matter how high it flew, all that it ever saw was more desert and different entities all around. Sometimes 'she' saw others roaming around in packs and sometimes wondering alone much like 'herself'. The thought never occurred to it to go to any of these entities. Hell, the thought of speaking to anything never crossed its mind. Deciding that this was pointless much like everything else, the hollow flew through the air at a steady and slow pace, like some kind of predator looking for its prey. The only problem with that though was the fact that this 'prey' it was looking for was nonexistent in its eyes. Nothing interested the hollow in the air. Nothing ever caught its attention no matter how hard it tried to care for something. Maybe that was just what its life was reduced to. Maybe there was truly nothing that could-

 **"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"**

A distorted laugh broke the hollow out of its trance as it peered down and saw a mass of these creatures about to leap through some kind of tear. The tear was large and filled with a deep emptiness, much like itself. 'She' hovered high into the air away from sight and listened to what one of the creatures were saying.

 **"This is our moment!"**  
It started, some strange looking tiger-like monster.  
 **"We will travel to the human world, rip and tear at any soul we find and kill every soul reaper in sight!"**

This gained a massive cheer from the others as the Vasto in the air cocked its head in what it could only explain as, curiosity. 'She' continued to listen.

 **"With this garganta, we will soon invade the dreaded soul reapers stronghold and overpower them with our numbers! None shall be safe from our vicious hate!"**  
The leader continued to shout strange nonsense that 'she' didn't understand.  
 **"When we take the human world, we will take the soul reapers world! And when we take their world, we will rule over all worlds!"**

This brought about even louder cheers from the monsters as they all ran through the large tear. The Vasto high above became intrigued by this tear to the 'human world'. 'She' felt like 'she' knew that world. Like it was almost familiar. Without thinking, the Vasto Lorde swooped down as the last monster was heading through the garganta. As it flew through the darkness, following the last of the hollows that traversed into it, 'she' could feel something going through 'her' head. Flashes and memories of some kind.

The memories showed a pale woman with green eyes standing next to a faceless man. She looked happy, filled with hope and purpose. She was some kind of nurse at a hospital and felt joy at helping the children there. What was this? Who was that woman? Was she important? All these questions flashed through 'her' mind as one last memory played out. It was that faceless man from before hugging the woman and whispering in her ear. The hollow couldn't hear all of it, but 'she' could hear the last words coming from him.

"Ulquiorra Cifer."

That was when she went wide eyed. That woman wasn't just some random being, no. That was her. The Vasto Lorde remembered her name and at last could speak.  
 **"Ulquiorra Cifer. That's me."**  
She said in a astonished tone as she exited the tear without even realizing.

There, she saw light. The first time in a long time, light from the sun shined down on her. It wouldn't fill the emptiness in her body, but for now, she would bask in its warmth. That was until she heard the scream of a little girl.

The sound of it was piercing as she saw the monsters she now knew were called 'hollow's' somehow were attacking the human world. She looked down to a street and saw a little girl in a striped shirt, plain shorts, her hair in pigtails and a strange chain coming from her chest running away from a hollow.

Without even thinking, Ulquiorra swooped down and stopped the hollow by running into it. The hollow regained its balance and looked over in rage at whatever tackled him. That is until he saw what exactly did so. He paled before backing away, looking right into the eyes of true despair. He didn't even notice the small soul reaper woman leaping to his masked face until she slashed him, causing him to dissipate. The raven haired girl turned to the new hollow and raised her sword, prepared to stop this hollow with her life if possible.

The hollow saw the girl with the sword and cocked her head to the side. That was when she saw from the corner of her eye, a head of orange. She turned and saw a human male looking right at her with wide eyes. Ulquiorra saw the confusion and shock in those brown eyes, but she also saw something else that made her shutter a bit. Wonder.

The look in those eyes caused her to fly away, fast. The raven haired girl took a sigh of relief before heading out at the sound of another hollow.  
"Dammit. Where the hell are they coming from?"

She leapt away from the area to attend to the rest of the hollows, completely unaware of the orange haired boy that had saw the entire thing.  
"What the hell was that?"

* * *

 **Hope ya'll enjoyed that chapter. It's my first requested fic as you all probably know by now, so I hope it's good.  
The reason I kept calling Ulquiorra it and kept saying 'she' like that is because I'm doing this from the perspective of someone who is completely unaware of what's going on. IE both Ulquiorra and Ichigo.**

 **Bye-bye.**


	2. The transformation

**[With Ichigo]**

Ichigo Kurosaki did not expect his day to turn out like this. To go from helping a spirit find peace to seeing monsters roaming around trying to eat said spirit was not how he expected his day to go. And that thing that resembled a woman. What was she and why did she help that little girl? She didn't look like all of the other monsters that showed up. She looked, well more like a human being than anything else really. What was she, and what was that girl with the sword that killed that monster?What was with all those other monsters and roars? Just what in the hell was going on in Karakura Town?

It didn't really matter to Ichigo right now as he went to the front door to his home. It was a nice little house that had a clinic attached to it. As long as Ichigo knew, his family has been able to see the souls of the departed, but today was unlike any other time before. He opened his door and right in the middle of his greeting, he received a foot to the face. Courtesy of his father, Isshin Kurosaki. After a few words, and fists, were done by father and son, Ichigo decided to head to his room, much to the protests of his sister. Both his little twin sisters, one of which is in supreme denial of seeing spirits while the other wishes to see them, watched as he left up the stairs. Isshin was being his usual goofy self around the two, while Karin was still eating her dinner and ignoring him.

Ichigo closed the door to his room and tossed his bag onto his desk. When he did that, he plopped himself on his bed with his hands behind his head and he rested. His thoughts were on what happened today, or more precisely, the woman from earlier that save that girl. Who was she, and why did he feel like she was there to help? Well, whatever the reason, he could only hope to see her again.

 **[Hours later]**

Ulquiorra had been flying around this strange world for hours now. Something about this world and the humans here really intrigued her. And that human with the strange orange hair really caught her eye. There was something about him that just felt right to her. She didn't know why, but he just felt different. What was it? Why was he still on her mind? Just what was he?

Ulquiorra didn't have enough time to think about that as she continued to feel the presence of that girl with the raven hair still chasing after her. She sighed as she flew faster.

The raven haired girl had been following her ever since she saw what happened with the little girl earlier. She saw Ulquiorra hunting and killing the hollows herself. Why? Why had this strange looking hollow been destroying her own kind? It made no sense to her. Now this hollow was flying faster, too fast for her to keep up.

"What the hell?"  
The raven haired girl said to herself as she crouched over and panted heavily.  
"What the hell is that hollow? And why is it attacking its own kind?"

The raven haired girl found out rather roughly that this particular hollow had no interest in her and only went after other hollows. Why? Who knows. All the girl knew was that she had a job to do, and she would stop this hollow no matter what.

 **[Twenty minutes later]**

Ulquiorra thought that she had finally lost that girl. She was very annoyed by whoever she was and glad that now she could focus on the task at hand. That task being to take out these monsters called hollows. She didn't know why, but the fact that they were trying to eat innocent souls just irked her in the wrong way. Before she could really focus on finding another hollow, she felt something familiar. A presence that was getting stronger and stronger by the second. She turned towards where that presence was and rushed over towards it. As she was approaching, she felt the spirit energy of one last hollow near that presence and went faster to the source. When she reached it, she saw a large hollow holding some girl in its hands.

"AHHH!"  
The little girl screamed out in pain.  
"ICHIGO! HELP ME!"

The girl screamed out as the hollow continued to squeeze her. Before Ulquiorra could make a move, that same human with orange hair rushed outside the house with a chair and jumped towards the hollow.  
"LET GO OF MY SISTER YOU BASTARD!"  
Only he was met with a fist for his efforts.

As he skidded a bit to a stop, Ulquiorra saw so much red. Her fist clenched in rage, and she gritted her teeth behind her mask. Without a moments hesitation, Ulquiorra quickly swept down, cutting the arm off of the hollow with her wings. She caught the dark haired girl, who had passed out, and skidded next to the boy named Ichigo. She crouched next to him with the girl and held onto her protectively while her wing held Ichigo.

As she kept her eyes on the hollow, she failed to notice that Ichigo had been looking right at her with both awe and wonder. From before, she looked like some woman with dark fur all around her and a mask, but now he could see her eyes. Despite the mask impeding her face, he could see the will and fire in her eyes. A fire that seemed to be for him and his sister. It was the same fire that willed him to protect the people he cared greatly for. Did that mean-

"You!"  
A female voice rang out as that girl with raven hair appeared once more.  
"Let them go you hollow!"

She drew her blade and was prepared to attack when Ichigo spoke up.  
"Karin!"

Ulquiorra handed the girl to him and he held onto her while looking at her in the eyes. Ulquiorra did the same and they sat there for a moment, ignoring the raven haired girl and the hollow at the same time. At that moment, everything just stood still for the two as they sat there gazing into each others eyes, lost within them.

The raven haired girl looked to the two of them in confusion.  
 _"Why isn't this human running away?"_  
She said to herself.  
 _"How can he just look that monster in its eyes so casually? This situation is bad. At this rate, the humans will die and I might too."_

The hollow on the other hand had other ideas as it ran towards the two, screeching as it did so. Both the girl and Ulquiorra caught onto it too late as the monster pierced Ichigo in his side. The orange haired teen went wide eyed as he released a silent scream before falling lifeless to the ground. Ulquiorra went wide eyed as the boy laid there.

The raven haired girl gasped as she realized she had failed at her job in allowing a hollow to kill a human. She looked to the hollow monster that was laughing and shouting out something that made no sense to her.

 **"YES! WITH THIS POWER AND SPIRIT ENERGY, ALL WILL CRUMBLE BEFORE ME!"**  
That was the last thing he said before an intense and powerful pressure befell the entire city.

Ulquiorra stood up from her spot next to the boy and looked directly at the now terrified hollow and girl. Her eyes burned a deep a violent green color that caused the two to shudder in fear and back away. Ulquiorra looked straight to the hollow and simply whispered in a dead-like tone.

 **"Die."**  
She held up one of her fingers and a teal light formed.

The girl looked on in wonder and confusion as the light grew and grew. The hollow paled as he attempted to run away, but it was too late.

Ulquiorra fired the attack from her finger and unleashed a massive torrent of energy directly at the hollow, disintegrating it into nothing. The girl managed to get out of the way in time with only a light burn on her arms and legs. She sat there in a heap as she saw the beam of energy die down. She panted hard as she watched this all unfold in front of her.

"How?"  
She said to no one in particular.  
"How can a hollow be that strong?"

Before she could say anything else, Ulquiorra's eyes changed back to their normal color and she fell to her knees. The girl looked stunned by all of this and didn't know whether or not to attack this hollow in her current condition.

Ulquiorra turned to Ichigo and crawled over to him with what little strength she had and sat next him. She gently picked up his head before noticing that he was still breathing. It was faint and shallow, but there. She didn't know what to do or how to save him. She was so caught up on the orange haired teen that she didn't even realize that the raven haired girl had just left through some strange wooden door that just appeared from her blade. When the girl left and the doors closed, Ulquiorra held the teen close to her chest, feeling his faint energy. It was strange to her as it felt somewhat similar to her own energy. Dark, vast and somehow lonely. She looked to him with sad eyes and sighed. She held him close to herself and felt some sort of pull to herself. That was when she heard a voice that was not her own.

 _ **"If you want to save him, then you have to give him some of your power. I'll take care of the rest."**_  
The voice was distorted like a hollows, but it was coming from her own mind. It wasn't her own voice.

Without a moments hesitation, Ulquiorra started pouring her own energy into the boy. The teal energy started to pour into the boy. It felt strange to her, giving something instead of taking away. Helping someone instead of hurting them. This was all new to her as she gave her energy to him and trusted in this foreign voice to keep its word.

After a few minutes, she could see that her energy had started to change. It stopped being her own teal energy and started to change to a black/red energy. It started to swirl around him as Ulquiorra grabbed the girl he called Karin and moved away. The energy swirled violently around him for a few seconds, sending pulses all around the area, until it finally died down to reveal something else entirely.

He was wearing something very similar to what that girl from before was wearing. Only his was completely white with black on the inside. It wasn't baggy like hers, but instead it was tighter and core like a long coat. He wore the same baggy-like pants though. He also had these pitch black fur cuffs on his wrists and ankles that color contrasted with his pale white skin. He also wore a pitch black mask with white markings on it and long horns atop of it. The last things that caught Ulquiorra's eye was his long white hair that was to his lower back and the fact that his hands and feet had black claws to them.

Ulquiorra looked on in awe at his new form and stood up with Karin in her arms. Ichigo looked down at her, something she didn't notice that he had gotten taller a bit, and walked over to her. With every step, she could feel a rush going though her. What was this feeling? Why did she feel, whole from this feeling? Like his very presence was enough to fill that empty void within her soul. She had to have this feeling. She needed to have this feeling. Whatever the cost.

* * *

 **So, what do ya'll think?**

 **I know. I rushed it a bit, but eh. Whatever I guess. The next chapter will have some actual interaction between Ichigo and Ulquiorra. Also that voice, yeah. That was Hichigo. He's really gonna be OOC in this one.**

 **Bye-bye.**


	3. The next day

**[The next day]**

Ichigo opened his eyes suddenly and sat up quickly, memories of last night quickly playing back in his mind. Yet when he awoke, he was back in his room, laying on his bed, still in his school uniform. He quickly got up from his bed and made his way to the living room only to find it partially destroyed. There was a large hole in the side of the house now and both his sisters and his father were standing there, looking through it.

"Whoa."  
Yuzu started in an excited yet concerned tone.  
"I can't believe that a truck hit the house and none of us heard it."

"Yeah."  
Karin started as well with her hands in her pockets.  
"Really weird."  
She was a little suspicious of this whole.

"Oh Masaki!"  
Isshin started as he raced to the large picture on the wall of his deceased wife.  
"How could I have let this happen when our beautiful children were home alone?!"

As Karin was beating up their dad, all Ichigo could do at that moment was look on to the hole confused. Did everything that happened last night really happen? Did he really see that woman again? And that girl that called herself a soul reaper, what was her deal when she saw that woman? Was that woman really a hollow? If she was, then she was absolutely nothing like how that girl explained them. This wasn't making any sense to him. Then, out of absolutely nowhere, he remembered that look he had and quickly ran back upstairs to the bathroom. He looked at himself extensively and saw that he was still him. No pale white skin. No long white hair. No black mask with those soulless eyes. He was himself, so was all of that real? He quickly shook those thoughts from his mind and got ready for the day.

 **[Half an hour later]**

Ichigo left the house after a quick shower and some breakfast. As he was walking through the streets to get to school, his thoughts were still on last night. Was it really a dream or did it really happen and he just can't remember it? It was hard to tell, so he decided to drop the situation as he approached the school.

Unbeknown to the teen, he was being watched from high above by more than a few pairs of eyes. The first belonging to a bucket hat wearing man with a cane standing atop of a building. He also had a black cat with piercing yellow eye on his shoulder, watching the boy with great interest.

The last set was none other Ulquiorra. She was high in the air and hovering as she watched him enter the school. She was making sure that he didn't notice her all day since that night. She would never forget that night for as long she lived.

 **[Last night, flashback]**

Ulquiorra looked at Ichigo's new form and was visibly shaken a bit. It was more or less his aura that shook her than his actual presence or energy. As he stood in front of her and looked down to her with those blacked out eyes, Ulquiorra felt some sort of tug in her chest. She couldn't explain it at all, but it felt good. Really good.

 **"Thank you."**  
He said to her in a guttural tone.

Ulquiorra nodded to him vigorously and handed him his sister. Ichigo took his sister and went inside the house out of her sights. Ulquiorra held her head down as she was about to leave, thinking that she was no longer needed, until she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around and saw him standing there once more. That feeling in her chest was back again and she became hopeful once again.

 **"You saved King and his sisters. Thank you, whoever you are."**  
That same guttural voice said to her.

 **"M-my name is Ulquiorra Cifer."**  
She stuttered out.

 **"Ulquiorra?"**  
He said a bit apprehensively.  
 **"Hmm. I'll be sure to tell King about you later."**

 **[End Flashback]**

Ulquiorra looked on from the sky and saw the head of orange as he went inside of the building. She smiled behind her mask seeing him and didn't even notice the others watching him.

As Ichigo made his way to his classroom, he was trying to piece together what happened last night. Did he really see a monster attack his sister? Did someone else really save him and Karin, or was it just all in his head? Regardless, Ichigo decided to just think about it later on after school. Only something was going to make that very difficult in a moment.

 _ **"Yo, King."**_  
A voice said to him as he sat in his chair. Ichigo looked around and saw that nobody was talking to him.  
 _ **"King."**_  
The voice said once again, this time in a more annoyed tone.

"What the hell?"  
Ichigo said to himself as he looked around the room a few times.

 _ **"Yo, King. I'm not in the room. I'm in your head."**_  
The voice said again, chuckling a bit.

"Okay."  
Ichigo said to himself again, a little bit creeped out.  
"That's, gonna take some getting used to."

* * *

 _ **Honestly couldn't think of a way to end this chapter properly. Lol.**_

 _ **Bye-bye.**_


	4. King down

**[Back with Ichigo]**

Ichigo had zero clue how there was now a voice in his head calling him 'King' now or why it was there in the first place. He didn't want to start a full blown conversation right here and now since people would think he was crazy, so he decided to wait till lunch time. During his wait, Ichigo could hear the voice in his head continue to talk to him. Well, more like bash on him for freakin out at the sound of his voice. It was too weird for him and the lunch bell couldn't have come any faster. The second it did, Ichigo dashed out of the school and went to a clearing in the back of the school not many people go to.

"Okay."  
He started, not knowing what to really say at first.  
"Who or what are you?"

There was a laugh, or more like a cackle if Ichigo was being honest, inside the teens head. At first, Ichigo found it nerve wracking, but after a minute or two, he was just plain annoyed at a lack of an answer.

 _ **"Sorry bout that King."**_  
The voice spoke in between laughs.  
 _ **"Just that I find it hilarious how you don't remember what happened last night."**_

"So all of that stuff was real?"  
Ichigo asked the voice.

 _ **"Yep. As real as a fist to the face."**_  
The voice spoke up to him with another cackle at his pretty bad joke.

"Okay then, who are you?"  
Ichigo asked him, curious as to what was really going on around him.

 _ **"Can't tell ya my name Kingy."**_  
The voice spoke up.  
 _ **"You gotta figure that out yourself."**_

Ichigo was taken aback by this voices answer. Then he had to ask it.  
"Why do you keep calling me King?"

The voice had a grin that Ichigo could just feel for some strange reason. That grin the voice supposedly doing decided to answer.  
 _ **"Simple really. You're the King. I'm the horse you ride into battle."**_

Ichigo sighed at that answer.  
"Why would I want to ride you into battle when we could just run into it together?"

That question really took the voice by surprise as he never really thought of that. Maybe something like that was possible in the long run. Just maybe.

It didn't really matter at that moment as a pressure bared down on him from a certain direction. Ichigo turned to his left and saw a pair of eyes in the bushes looking right at him. The eyes were a deep red color and menacing enough to cause Ichigo to back up. Suddenly, a large monster in the shape of a spider came out of the bushes and roared.

 **"Finally, I found you!"**  
It rushed over to the stunned teen in a quick fashion.  
 **"When I devour you, all will fall to me!"**

Ichigo jumped out of the way as it crashed down into the ground. He took this opportunity to run away in a panic. So all of what happened last night was real? How? What was this monster that was chasing him? What did it mean by devouring him? Okay, well that last one was simple to figure out, but what about the other things? Ichigo didn't know. As he ran out of the school grounds, Ichigo made his way to a park. He was careful not to run into anyone as he ran and that the park was empty right now. He managed to hide behind a tree within the park as the monster tried to find him.

"What the hell is that thing?"  
Ichigo said to himself as he tried to regain his breath and calm down.

 ** _"That King, is a hollow."_**  
The voice spoke up again.  
 _ **"And you need to use me to kill it."**_

"What!?"  
Ichigo shouted aloud by accident, getting the hollows attention.

 **"FOUND YOU!"**  
It yelled out as it used one of its legs to cut the tree in half down the middle.

Ichigo leapt out of the way at the last minute, only receiving a small cut along his right arm. Ichigo stood up, holding his injured arm, and ran away as the spider-like hollow started to launch its legs towards him. Ichigo used his natural reflexes to dodge as best as he could, avoiding three thrusts before the spider hollow swept his leg. He tumbled down and tried to stand once again, but he noticed that his leg had a bad cut along the calf.

"Shit."  
Ichigo said to himself as the hollow started to crawl over to him.  
"Uh, hey voice. Could really use some help here."

 ** _"I would Kingy,"_**  
The voice started in a concerned tone.  
 ** _"But you still don't know my name. Without that, I'm not much help to you."_**

Ichigo was about to panic as the hollow was only a few feet away and rearing one of its legs to impale Ichigo, but that was when the two felt an intense pressure baring down on them. The hollow stopped in its tracks as it turned to see what was causing this intense pressure. Ichigo did the same and saw that woman from last night. Her eyes held a fury behind them that caused the hollow to pale if it was even possible. Ichigo on the other hand remembered her from the other day. How she helped him save Karin and how she defeated the hollow that night. Though he couldn't fully remember her name now that he thought about it.

 _ **"Ulquiorra."**_  
The voice spoke up once more.

"What?"  
Ichigo asked it.

 ** _"Her name is Ulquiorra Cifer."_**  
He answered while grinning, an act Ichigo somehow just felt for some reason.

Ichigo would've questioned further, but the look in Ulquiorra's eyes told him that she was very upset it seemed. He decided to keep quiet as she slowly made her way towards the spider hollow. Said hollow was backing away from her, trembling in fear for its life.

 **"Die."**  
She said in a low tone. Before the hollow could even blink, Ulquiorra appeared in front of it and shoved her entire fist through its skull, killing it instantly.

She removed her arm from the hollow as it started to dissolve and disappear into thin air. Ichigo could only stare in awe at how elegant she was when it was all said and done. He didn't know why, but this woman was just spectacular to him. He tried to stand up only for his injured leg to stop him and cause him to fall. Ulquiorra caught him just before he fell to the ground and held onto him in her arms. Ichigo looked up to her and into her beautiful green eyes as she held onto him.

 **"Are you okay?"**  
She asked him with worry in her voice.

Ichigo nodded to her.  
"Yeah. I'm okay."  
He was able to stand on his own now, albeit with his one good leg.  
"Thank you, Ulquiorra."

If Ulquiorra wasn't wearing her mask, Ichigo would see her blushing heavily towards him.  
 **"Y-you're welcome."**  
She stuttered out.

Ichigo was about to speak again when he suddenly felt a hard strike to the back of his head. He didn't know what that was or what was going on, but the look in Ulquiorra's eyes told him that this was not good. He started falling to the ground as the blackness started taking hold of him. He could barely hear what was going on, but swore he heard the sound of at least two or three voices behind him.

"Guess this is the one with that crazy spiritual pressure we felt last night?"  
One of the voices, a male from the sound of it, started in an unsteady tone.

 **"Who are you people?"**  
Ulquiorra demanded in an unsure tone.

 **"That's none of your concern bitch."**  
Another voice spoke out, a girls from the sound of it, but it sounded different from the first.

The last thing Ichigo heard was a loud crash and an explosion before feeling the wind passing through him at a great speed. What ever happened must've been bad, and he was in for one hell of a day.

* * *

 _ **I know, been nearly the entire year since I updated this one. Sorry for my forgetfulness. Lol.**_

 _ **The next chapter will really start having things rolling from here on out.**_

 _ **Bye-bye.**_


	5. Remembrance

**[Where we left off]**

Ichigo groaned as the throbbing in the back of his head was still very much present, but dull now. He placed his hand onto his head only to feel a soft hand grab onto his. This hand placed his back down and started to slowly caress his cheek. The hand was soft and warm, not to mention gentle. He slowly opened his eyes and saw the green orbs of Ulquiorra staring back at him in a mixture of relief and concern.

"It's you again."  
Ichigo started in a surprised tone.

 **"Are you alright Ichigo?"**  
She asked him, concerned for his well being.

"Yeah."  
Ichigo started as he sat up and rubbed the back of his head.  
"I'm okay."  
After he did that, Ichigo looked around his surroundings and found that they were not at the park. Instead it looked like they were in some kind of cave of sorts.

 **"I'm sorry."**  
Ulquiorra started, getting his attention.  
 **"I didn't really think on where to go once those people showed up."**

Ichigo looked at her with a questioning look.  
"What people?"

She shrugged.  
 **"I honestly don't know, but one of them could use hollow powers to summon a mask."**

Ichigo thought about it for a moment. People that could summon those masks? Did that mean that they were hollows as well? Man, this was getting out of hand for the orange haired teen. Ichigo stood up and looked around their surroundings. They were definitely in a cave. The rocks were a deep black while the ground was a a stark white sand. Ichigo may not have been to every part of Karakura Town before, but he knew for a fact that there were no caves like this around.

"Where are we Ulquiorra?"  
Ichigo asked her as he looked around.

 **"I'm sorry Ichigo."**  
She started as she stood up, getting his attention.  
 **"Those masked people were strong, stronger than me and they wouldn't stop chasing us. So, I had no choice but to bring you here."**

"And where exactly is here?"  
Ichigo asked as she walked past him towards what looked like an exit to the cave.

He followed her outside and started in both awe and horror at what he was seeing. They were apparently in some kind of endless desert at night time. The moon was out, providing its light for them, and the sand seemed to just go on and on for miles. Ichigo gaped when he looked all around himself.

 **"Ichigo."**  
Ulquiorra caught his attention once more. He turned to her and could see her being a little apprehensive at first.  
 **"This place is where I come from. Hueco Mundo."**

Ichigo relaxed a little bit at hearing this and began to ask a really stupid question.  
"Wow, Ulquiorra. You own an entire desert?"

She sweat dropped at hearing that and giggled a little under her breath and mask. The voice in Ichigo's head was cackling up a storm at the sheer stupidity in that question. Ichigo didn't know why they were reacting this way though.

 **"No, Ichigo."**  
She regained her composure to speak up again.  
 **"This place is where all hollows come from. From the weakest Gillian to the strongest Vasto Lorde, this place is where they all come from."**

"Whoa."  
Ichigo started as he looked around in wonder now. He looked around until he looked back to the moon again. For some odd reason, he felt a tug at his soul once he looked straight towards the crescent moon in the sky. That was when everything went black for him.  
"What the hell?"  
Ichigo looked around and saw only darkness.  
"Ulquiorra?!"  
He shouted for the woman, hoping that this was just another hollow thing she could explain to him. No answer.

 **"She won't hear ya Kingy."**  
The voice started up, only this time it felt closer rather than in his own head.

"You again?"  
Ichigo started as he looked all over, noticing that the darkness was fading away.

Suddenly, there were skyscrapers all over the place. They stretched high into the air as Ichigo watched the sky brighten up. He found that he was sitting on one of these skyscrapers sides yet gravity wasn't reacting like he thought it would.

 **"Pretty cool right King?"**  
The voice started again, only this time, it was to Ichigo's right.

He turned quickly and went wide eyed and slack jawed. Sitting on the edge of the skyscraper was a pale white version of himself, only this one was wearing a uniform similar to the one that soul reaper from before was wearing. It was white though instead of black, and he had some kind of large object attached to his back. The other Ichigo looked to the teen with a shit eating grin and showed his black eyes with yellow pupils.

 **"Good to see ya King."**  
He started as he stood up fro his seated position.

"You're that voice in my head?"  
Ichigo asked, still stunned by what, or who to be exact, he was seeing.

The other him walked over and kept on grinning towards Ichigo.  
 **"Yeah, that's me Kingy, but you still don't know my name yet."**  
He stopped in front of Ichigo and went for the handle of his large blade.  
 **"And that's why, taking over is gonna be so simple for me!"**

He drew his large cleaver and struck at Ichigo, missing just by a hair as Ichigo ducked away from him. The crater that came as a result cleaved through the skyscraper. Ichigo ran away from the crazy doppleganger of himself as it started to laugh maniacally. Ichigo reached the other edge of the skyscraper and stopped when he saw that there wasn't much else there.

 **"Oh how sweet of Ulquiorra!"**  
The double started as it laughed again, slowly approaching him.  
 **"She tried to save you from those people by bringing your untrained soul to the world of hollows! Too bad that she didn't think to hard on what I would do to you once we got here! Eh, King?"**

Ichigo turned around and got ready for anything. He may be just a human, but there was no way he would let this fake take him down without a fight.  
"What are you talking about?"

The double placed his cleaver onto his shoulder and continued to grin s he stood a good distance away from Ichigo.  
 **"Oh ya know. This world is dominated by nothing but hollow reiatsu. The very same thing I used to kill that first hollow not too long ago. This place is just teaming with the stuff."**  
He pointed his free hand towards Ichigo.  
 **"And don't you think it odd that I came to be once you met her, Ichigo?"**

Ichigo gave him a deadpanned look as he began to sweat.  
"What are you-"

 **"Don't give me that!"**  
The double interrupted him.  
 **"Ever since that fine piece of hollow ass showed herself to you, I started making my presence known to you!"**  
Ichigo, irked at how he described Ulquiorra, thought about it as he remembered that that was how it happened.  
 **"Now, think of a time before she showed up that you heard my voice at the time."**

Ichigo didn't know what he was talking about. A time before he met Ulquiorra that he heard his voice? You'd think he would remember something like that. It's not like he'd forget that kind of thing happening to him in any way, right? Was there a reason for this double to say that? If so, why? Has he spoke to Ichigo before, but if that's the case, then why couldn't he remember?

Ichigo didn't have time to question these thoughts as he was brought back to his own reality when the double threw his large cleaver right at him. He moved out of the way just in time as it went past him. The double clicked its tongue in annoyance and pulled on a bandage attached to the handle of the blade. The cleaver came right back towards him and he started spinning it around nonchalantly.

 **"Tryin' to use your brain to figure it all out King?"**  
He started with that smirk again.  
 **"Here's a hint, remember the worst day of your life?"**

Ichigo went wide eyed for a moment as he remembered that day all too well. The day his mother died. Even to this day, he still blamed himself for what happened to her, but what did that have to do with-

 **"Think about it Ichigo."**  
The double spoke up once more as it stopped spinning the blade and rested it on his shoulder.  
 **"What all do you remember from that day? The rain. The riverbed. The girl. Then seein' your mom laying on top of you, dead.**  
The teen winced at that last part.  
 **"But don't you find it oddly convenient that right after that day, your memory gets all fuzzy for a time?"**

"I remember bits and pieces."  
Ichigo started as he stood there for a moment in though.  
"The girl was about to jump and I wanted to save her. Mom shouted at me not to go, almost like she afraid of what was down there. Why would she be? Unless."  
Ichigo went wide eyed. He had never seen what exactly killed his mother before, but now a terrible thought came across his mind.

 **"Yep."**  
The double started as he threw the blade at Ichigo once again, only for the teen to dodge.  
 **"Remember now?!"**  
He yelled out as he continued to fling his weapon upon Ichigo, getting in a few cuts here and there.  
 **"The thing that keeps haunting you King! The real reason your mother died!"**  
He got Ichigo in the leg, causing the teen to drop to a knee.  
 **"Do you remember now!? Huh!? Do you remember exactly what happened when she died and what happened after!? Ichigo!?"**  
The double hurled the blade at the kneeling Ichigo, a crazed look in his eyes.

"ENOUGH!"  
Ichigo shouted out as a large amount of energy exploded from his being.

The energy was pitch black with a red outline that was radiating off of Ichigo in a torrent. The skyscrapers began to shake and crumble under all the pressure being bared down. Ichigo yelled out into the air as a few lone tears streamed down his face at the rush of memories of that night. How everything was fine for he and his mother, until that little girl by the river. He rushed over to her and reached out only for her to disappear from his sight. When he turned around, he saw the masked face of a hollow with fur all along its body laughing at him as it reeled its clawed hand back. His mother, without any hesitation, jumped in front of him and took the full brunt of the strike, ending her life right then and there as she fell on top of him. That was when he woke up and found her there like that, only the memory showed that the voice of the double had spoken to him.

 _ **'King.'**_  
It started in a sincere tone, a complete contrast from its usual tone.  
 _ **'I'm so sorry. I wish I could've done something, anything.'**_  
Ichigo saw that the younger him was still crying too hard to listen, but the voice continued anyway.  
 ** _I don't know if you will ever recover from this, but whenever you need me, I will always be there for you Ichigo. When you're ready, you'll remember my name. I know you will. My name is-'_**

That was when the memory ended and Ichigo screamed out one word that would change everything for him from now on.

"ZANGETSU!"

The energy exploded one last time, causing the surrounding skyscrapers to collapse within themselves. The double, now named Zangetsu, held on to whatever was left of the ground he was on as the energy was like a hurricane within the space they were in. He looked on with wide eyes as he had finally gotten through. A small smile spread its way onto his face as the energy began to lighten up. The black energy swirled slowly around where Ichigo was and soon enough, disappeared. Zangetsu stood up and waited for the smoke to clear before he saw him. Ichigo was knelt down on the edge of the skyscraper they were on, completely healed, and now wearing something completely different. Much like how Zangetsu looked when he took over Ichigo's body when Ulquiorra showed up, Ichigo's outfit was the inverse of colors this time. His skin was pale, his hair orange and reaching down to his feet, red fur cuffs on his wrists and ankles along with the top of his shihakusho, and a white mask with red markings and the horns. He had his right hand resting on the handle of his own cleaver, only this one was white with a black back to it instead of Zangetsu's own inverted one. Ichigo stood up and looked right at the smiling Zangetsu and sighed in relief. After that, he passed out from the release of so much energy. Zangetsu watched as he fell on his face and the mask fell off of him. He got a good look at the smiling form laying there and couldn't help but chuckle a bit.

"Rest well Ichigo."  
Zangetsu started as he knelt down to Ichigo and placed a hand on the teens head. A faint, white glow flowed from his hand toward the teen.  
"When you wake up, you'll know what to do. I have faith in you, King."

* * *

 _ **The next chapter will have some actual romance between the two now, promise, along with the soul society and the Vizards getting involved.**_

 _ **See ya then.**_

 _ **Bye-bye.**_


	6. Plans

**[Where we left off]**

Ichigo suddenly woke up to see that he was still in Hueco Mundo. Only this time, he was further away from that cave he and Ulquiorra were at. He looked around and noticed that he was in the center of a large crater while hollows were either laying dead or crawling away from him.

 **"What the hell did I do?"**  
Ichigo spoke in a deep and guttural voice. He grabbed at his throat in alarm only to see that his arm had changed. He looked at the rest of himself and saw that he looked the same as he did earlier when facing Zangetsu.  
 **"This is just weird."**

He looked around and noticed the cleaver stabbed into the sand and covered in blood. Whatever he did must've really done damage. Ichigo went over towards his cleaver and pulled it out of the sand, not feeling a single bit of weight behind it. He looked the blade over and was a little surprised when he realized that the color scheme was the reverse of Zangetsu's cleaver. Putting that thought aside, Ichigo looked around as the remaining hollows were fleeing. He caught sight of one that was stumbling out of the crater and decided to ask what happened. As he approached the lizard like hollow, it looked back to see Ichigo slowly walking towards it and panicked.

 **"N-n-no!"**  
The hollow yelled out in fear as Ichigo stopped in front of it.  
 **"S-stay away from me! Please!"**

 **"Whoa, whoa, whoa. I'm not gonna hurt you."**  
Ichigo placed his cleaver down on the ground and held his hands up to calm the hollow down.  
 **"I just want to know what happened here."**

The lizard hollow relaxed a bit but kept its eyes on Ichigo just in case.  
 **"You went on a freakin rampage is what happened!"**  
The hollow yelled out as he realized the look in Ichigo's eyes was different from before.  
 **"You just showed up an unbelievable amount of power and just starting killing everything in your way!"**

At hearing that, Ichigo's anxiety kicked in as he looked around once more.  
 **"I did all of this?"**

 **"Yes you did!"**  
The hollow yelled out once more.

Ichigo looked back towards the hollow.  
 **"Where's Ulquiorra?"**

 **"Who?"**

 **"The woman that was with me from before."**  
Ichigo answered him with an uneasy tone to his voice.

The hollow narrowed its eyes for a second before shrugging.  
 **"You showed up here by yourself from that direction over there."**

The hollow nodded to the left and Ichigo nodded as he took his cleaver and ran in that direction. He was worried that he might have hurt her if she wasn't at the crater with all the other dead or fleeing hollows. To Ichigo, hurting her wasn't right in his eyes. She had done so much for him without him ever returning her help in kind. That was all gonna change when he finds her, hopefully alive. He was gonna repay her for all the good she's done with him. Whether he wanted to admit it or not, she was important to him not just as a friend or someone he owed his life to. He really couldn't explain it that well.

As he raised off in the sands of Hueco Mundo, he noticed that he was very fast. Fast enough to leave a large cloud of sand and dust as he ran. He was amazed by how fast he was but pushed that all aside as he felt something in his soul. It felt familiar to him as he looked off into the distance and saw the familiar visage of the woman who he was looking for. She was standing near the entrance of the cave and was leaning on the walls as other hollows circled her. For some reason, he didn't know why, but he felt a very sickening feeling in his stomach all of a sudden. He saw that she wasn't in any sort of fighting shape for some reason or another and the other hollows were looking at her with a predatory like aura. Ichigo narrowed his eyes as he all of sudden grew angry. Anger towards these hollows. Who were they to look at her like that, like they were going to attack her.

That thought propelled Ichigo forward at high speed. Suddenly, he went from roughly a few hundred meters away to right in front of Ulquiorra.

 **"I-Ichigo?"**  
She said with a mixture of shock and happiness, two emotions she was still trying to get used to.

Ichigo turned towards her and smiled. At least that's what he hoped Ulquiorra saw.  
 **"Hey. You okay?"**

She nodded her head to him as he saw that she was actually hurt. Her left side had a deep cut in it that was healing slowly but still bleeding. Ichigo went wide eyed through his mask and went to ask her what happened to her only for a cero to strike the back of his head. He barely felt anything as he turned slowly to whoever fired that at him. All he saw were quite a few rather surprised hollows staring right at him in disbelief.

 **"Ulquiorra."**  
He started as he flexed his body a bit.  
 **"Be honest with me, was I the one who gave you that scar?"**

Ulquiorra looked down for a second as she nodded her head.  
 **"You weren't in your right mind and attacked anything in sight, but while I'll be fine from that, these hollows tried to take advantage of my weakened state."**

Ichigo's eyes narrowed as he clutched the handle to his blade tightly, rage starting to boil in his mind. He wasted no time as his instincts took over and her rushed in. He quickly killed the hollows that had surrounded them in seconds, fresh blood once again on his cleaver.

Ulquiorra looked on in surprise that Ichigo reacted that way, almost protectively in fact. She was flattered by this act as she could feel that emptiness inside of her slowly being filled bit by bit the longer she is with Ichigo.

As Ichigo stood there for a second, wondering if anyone else was about to attack, Ulquiorra walked over to him on steady legs. She wrapped her arms around his left arm and hugged it gently. This caught Ichigo by surprise, but he wasn't complaining. He actually didn't mind it at all. The two looked at each other for a moment before Ulquiorra decided that it was time for them to head out of this area since it probably wouldn't be all too safe if stronger hollows showed up.

Ichigo nodded and the two headed out into the desert night.

* * *

 **[Vizard warehouse]**

Right now Shinji and Hiyori had returned back empty handed. It was definitely an odd sight since it was supposed to be an easy mission. Just pick up the orange haired kid and train him to control his hollow to help them in their fight against Aizen. But everything went to hell once that other hollow showed up out of the blue and put a huge wrench in their plans. Whoever that particular hollow was had really made things complicated, but at least it works both ways for Aizen. That brown haired bastard must be seething right now at whatever his plans were going up in smoke just like that.

Love was the first to speak up as the pair sat in their own areas.  
"I take it things went awry on the job?"

Shinji nodded. Things were going to get complicated now that Ichigo has been taken away to Hueco Mundo by that hollow woman. Kisuke most likely know about the recent abduction and was working hard on something to get the kid back. Isshin was going to pop a blood vessel when he hears about this.

"So, what do we do?"  
Kensei asked as he laid down on some rubble.

Shinji simply sat there in thought, eventually coming up with something.  
"Sooner or later that hollow will appear, and when that happens, we make our move on it."

* * *

 **[Soul Society]**

Rukia had returned the other day and informed her captain of what she had seen the night before. To say that Ukitake was more than a little shaken from what he heard was an understatement. When he informed the other captains of this during a meeting, everyone was concerned to a point. Of course captains like Kenpachi and Kurotsuchi didn't really care for the human at first, but once they were told of how he had been transformed into a hollow with incredible spirit energy, well, one wanted a fight the other wanted a test subject.

Aizen was curious yet cautious on the surface, but on the inside he was seething. Not only has his plan to have Rukia give Ichigo her powers so he could eventually retrieve the other half of the Hogyoku, but now all that time he had spent to mold Ichigo was all for nothing. It was also frustrating for the man when he realized that Ichigo was no longer in the world of the living. Whoever this other hollow was that saved him the night Rukia explained was in for a world of trouble whenever he finds them.

The head captain gave a general order to watch out for the hollow Rukia had described as well as the female hollow as well. They are to either be captured for study on Mayuri's part, or killed. Everyone was in agreement to this as Aizen saw his chance for his plans to still go somewhat in his favor. Only thing that would be difficult now was to retrieve the other half of the Hogyoku from Kisuke.

'No matter.'  
Aizen thought to himself as he walked out of the meeting room with Gin not too far behind.  
'Once I have whatever Ichigo Kurosaki has turned into, I'll be able to be one step closer to my goal.'

* * *

 _ **Pretty short, but I got the point across. I will have Ichigo going back to his home in the next chapter, but it's gonna be funny. Break the whole 'everything is serious vibe I got from writing this chapter'.**_

 _ **See ya then.**_

 _ **Bye-bye.**_


	7. Showdown

**[Hueco Mundo]**

Right now, Ichigo and Ulquiorra were still walking along the deserts of Hueco Mundo together, aimlessly going from one place to another with no real sense of direction. They just wound up talking to one another for hours about anything really. They just enjoyed each others company was all. Nothing really noteworthy happened as they walked on. A few scraps here and there from some upstart hollows wanting a meal and not paying attention to how powerful both Ichigo and Ulquiorra were.

Ichigo got to know more about Ulquiorra the more they just talked. He knew of how her despair had been the only thing she had ever known and how she wanted anything to fill the hole where her heart is supposed to be. Ichigo quickly figured out that she cared for him as he cared for her as well. When he told her that he cared for her, he could only imagine her blushing form under her mask.

The two stayed together as they continued on, not noticing a few sets of eyes following them. It didn't take long for whoever these people were to make their move on the two, as a tall and skinny hollow with long claws on each hand rushed towards them. He was followed by some bull-looking hollow as well as a hollow with large arms shooting fire out of the shoulders. Ulquiorra and Ichigo moved out of the way of the attacks as the three formed a crater where the couple stood moments before.

 **"What the hell?"**  
Ichigo started as he readied himself despite not being all too good using his blade just yet.

Ulquiorra also readied herself as she could tell that these hollows were a little stronger than the ones from before. Not by much, but still worth being a little more prepared than before. The three new hollows stood up and walked out of the crater as they watched the couple with what looked like hard glares.

 **"So."**  
The bull started with a bit of a cocky tone.  
 **"You two are the source of that powerful spiritual pressure. I expected better."**

This got him a low growl from Ichigo as he did just insult them both.  
 **"And just who the hell are you guys supposed to be?"**

 **"Our names aren't important."**  
The tall one started as he flexed his claws.  
 **"Because you'll both be dead soon."**

The three rushed towards the two at their fastest, though to both Ulquiorra and Ichigo it looked like a light jog. The one with the large arms went after Ulquiorra while the bull and the tall one went after Ichigo.

Ulquiorra dodged his attempted strikes, not really seeing any sort of finesse or real style to his attacks. It was very boring for her to simply dodge his punches even if fire was shooting out of each strike, so she decided to mix things up. The hollow went for yet another strike with a large torrent of fire, but this time, Ulquiorra stood still and was about to take the strike. The hollow was confused at first but continued to follow through. Time seemed to stand still for a second as one moment he was following through with his attack, and then the next moment his arm is completely cut from the shoulder. His large left arm laid on the ground a few meter from him and Ulquiorra as she simply stood there, unfazed by what just happened as her wing dripped with fresh blood. The large hollows reaction was slow as he noticed his arm missing and then the pain came.

 **"AAHHHHHHHHHHHH!"**  
He screamed out as he clutched his stump of an arm.

The other two heard this as they looked over and saw their comrade's missing appendage. They paled a bit as they felt the pressure from their own opponent behind them rise. They turned slowly as they saw Ichigo look to them with a hard glare that caused them to realize that he was out of their league. Ichigo let go of his blade and clutched the cloth around the handle and began to twirl in around. The edge of the cleaver raced against the sand, kicking it up all around it. This caused the two hollows to back up for a moment. They had never seen a hollow with a zanpakuto before. Ichigo continued to twirl his blade for a few more seconds before stopping as he launched it past the two at speeds they couldn't even follow. It went past them though and continued on towards their other member of the group. Said hollow who was still clutching his stump didn't even notice the cleaver as it sped towards him. He widened his eyes as he registered everything, but before the attack could happen, a bone white panther came out of nowhere and struck the cleaver hard with its tail. Ichigo was surprised as so far none of the hollows he had faced so far had been strong enough to do something like that before. Pulling the cloth and his blade back to him Ichigo took in this panthers features.

It was completely bone white with light blue eyes and black paws. Its tail seemed to be attached to the back of its head as it traveled down the spine to form the tail. It had a mean look to it as it stared towards Ichigo with its teeth barred towards the teen turned hollow. It was followed by two other hollows, a tall menos looking one and another tall one with some cloth wrapped around its mask, that stood next to the one armed hollow as the other two quickly went back to the others. Ulquiorra stood next to Ichigo as she noticed this panther was definitely stronger than the ones behind him.

 _ **'This may be interesting after all.'**_  
She thought to herself as she stood by Ichigo's side.

 **"Heh."**  
The panther started with a deep, masculine voice.  
 **"So, you're the strong ones I've been hearin' about, eh?"**

Ichigo raised a brow behind his mask as he noticed the panther's tail was moving with anticipation.  
 **"And just who are you supposed to be?"**

The panther seemed to snarl and smirk at how blunt his opponent was. Something he could at least appreciate to a fault.  
 **"The names Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez."**  
Grimmjow started.  
 **"You've already met some of my motley crew. Shawlong, Edrad, and Yylfordt. The others are Di Roy and Nakeem."**

The group behind their leader was actually surprised by this. Usually, Grimmjow wouldn't even bother introducing them to someone strong who he was about to kill, but this orange haired hollow must've been different to their leader for some reason or another.

 **"Then I'm Ichigo Kurosaki."**  
Ichigo introduced himself as he held up his cleaver, Ready for a fight.

Grimmjow grinned once more as he kept his eyes on Ichigo's.  
 **"You all stay out of this."**  
He started to his crew.  
 **"This is my fight, and I'm gonna enjoy it."**

The group nodded to their leaders order.

 **"Ichigo,"**  
Ulquiorra started to Ichigo as he kept his eyes on his opponent.  
 **"Be careful. This one is much stronger than the others from before."**

Ichigo nodded as he and Grimmjow began to circle each other. Both could tell that the other was being cautious of the other, but neither made a move yet. Both Grimmjow's crew and Ulquiorra watched with anticipation as both hollows finally stopped and suddenly launched themselves at one another. Ichigo brought his cleaver down but the panther dodged and went for a slash with his claw. Ichigo spun around and managed to parry the attack. He also went for a slash with his blade but Grimmjow leapt back quickly and fired a cero from his jaws. Ichigo, not seeing that coming so soon, leapt out of the way as the blast formed a small crater in the sand.

 _ **'Hmm.'**_  
Grimmjow thought to himself.  
 _ **'He's pretty fast. Time to kick it up a notch.'**_

He sped off towards Ichigo even faster than before and slashed at the teen hollow. Ichigo blocked, but the force knocked him back several yards. Grimmjow didn't let up as he rushed over once again and went low. He caught Ichigo in the left leg and left a deep gash that brought out a grunt from the teen and caused him to falter. Grimmjow grinned and went back on the attack, a little too overconfident this time as he went to Ichigo's right side, where his cleaver was. Ichigo saw him coming and at the last second raised his blade and delivered a deep cut of his own to Grimmjow's side. The panther grunted at the stinging pain and quickly leapt back. His armored skin protected him a bit but it still hurt like hell for the panther. Ichigo, seeing that Grimmjow was down for a second, used sonido to get close to him. It was a good thing Ulquiorra taught him the move earlier when they were traveling, but it was still slow in comparison. Ichigo appeared next to Grimmjow and brought his blade down once again on the wide eyed panther, but Grimmjow decided to go for broke as he used his jaw and tail to try and slow the massive sword. He wound up catching it in his maw and with the tail, suffering a deep cut to his mouth, but stopped the blade as best as he could. Ichigo eyes went wide as Grimmjow landed a deep gash to his side with one of his claws. Ichigo grimaced and pulled back his sword, cutting into Grimmjow's jaw and cutting part of his tail off in the process. The two jumped away from each other and stared back to the other.

 _ **'Damn.'**_

That was both of their thoughts as they could feel blood loss kicking in, Grimmjow by his mouth and tail, Ichigo from his leg and side.

As their blood flowed, both Grimmjow's crew and Ulquiorra were worried of their leader/companion respectively. Ulquiorra wanted nothing more than to jump into the fray and help Ichigo, but something just stopped her. She didn't know what it was but for some reason she couldn't bring herself to interrupt this battle. Ichigo needed this for himself to really test his skills, sure, but even with that knowledge she still felt that she should jump in now to help him. Whatever it was telling her not to though, she just hoped it was the right thing to do.

Grimmjow's crew had never seen their leader in a fight like this before. As long as they've known him, he's never really been in a fight that was longer than a few minutes at best and a few seconds at worse. Hell, they've never even seen him really bleed this badly before now. It was jarring to think that another hollow was strong and fast enough to really give Grimmjow a proper fight he craved for so long, yet at the same time commendable and worthy of respecting.

Ichigo and Grimmjow were barely on their feet as they stared down the other with narrowed eyes, and blurry vision. Their spirit energy was practically the only thing keeping them awake right now and even that was being strained right now. Through sheer grit and respect for the other along with wanting to best their opponent, the two dragged themselves back to their feet and gathered their remaining spirit energy. Grimmjow's blue energy flared up while Ichigo's black/red energy did the same. Grimmjow's crew couldn't believe how much energy this orange haired hollow had and could only hope their leader could prevail.

Ichigo clutched his blade tightly as he rushed forward as fast as he could while Grimmjow did the same. The two met in the center and attacked. Ichigo bringing his cleaver down with Grimmjow thrusting his claws forward. The explosion that ensued rocked the entirety of Hueco Mundo as a large pillar of red and blue energy rose up to the sky, brightening everything in the desert and gaining a lot of attention in the process.

Ulquiorra covered her eyes as sand flew everywhere. She tried to find Ichigo in th epicenter by sensing his energy, but it was very faint. She was very concerned as the dust was letting up slowly and the pressure was subsiding. Steeling herself, Ulquiorra rushed inside the aftermath of the explosion to find him.

Shawlong was the first to move into the dust in the hope their leader wasn't dead. He was quickly followed by the others, even Edrad whose arm was cauterized now by his own flame.

Inside of the center of it all, Ichigo and Grimmjow were down on the ground, exhausted and injured, but still awake none the less. They both were a little ways away from each other as they could see the other was still alive somehow but badly beaten up. Grimmjow had a long cut along his chest leading from the underside of his chest all the way down to his left hip. Ichigo had two deep claw marks along his shoulders and going down to his chest.

 **"Heh."**  
Grimmjow started with a weak tone as he smirked a bit.  
 **"Not bad, Kurosaki."**

Ichigo stifled a chuckle, albeit with difficulty, and spoke in a weak tone as well.  
 **"Same to you too Grimmjow. Maybe next time we fight, we can go all out."**

Grimmjow chuckled as he was slowly losing consciousness, but still had the ware within it all to yell out.  
 **"Hell yeah! Next time I'm not gonna lose! I'll get so strong that you can't beat me even in your dreams!"**

Ichigo used the last of his strength to sit up a bit, no matter how painful it was, and grinned under his mask, an action Grimmjow could just tell he was doing.  
 **"Not gonna happen! Next time we fight, you'd better be ready to lose!"**

Just as Ichigo said those words, they both passed out right then and there in the sand. Ulquiorra and Grimmjow's crew made it in time to hear the exchange between the two and were at the very least glad that the two wouldn't die so easily. Taking their respective hollow, the group parted with a silent agreement not to attack each other, despite the fact Ulquiorra could easily destroy them with no problem. They left the area quickly right before other hollows could show up to investigate what had happened.

Ulquiorra took to the sky with her wings as she had Ichigo on her shoulder and his cleaver in her grip. She could feel that he was healing slowly but knew that there would be scars on his body now. Maybe that was a good thing. He would be able to understand the price of battle now and what the toll on his body would be because of it.

After a few minutes of flying and getting miles away from the battle, Ulquiorra stopped and landed next to a cave entrance. She went inside with Ichigo still in tow and laid him down once she knew the place was safe. She watched as his wounds were healed up almost fully with the scar tissue being fully visible to her. Sat next to him and rested his head onto her knees as he slept. Ulquiorra was worried at first, but seeing him healing slowly but surely was just fine in her eyes. She knew eventually that things would get a little bit heated in Hueco Mundo, but for now, she was perfectly content with having Ichigo in her arms, safe in her embrace.

* * *

 _ **Okay, so the fight scene was completely on the fly as I wanted to have an early interaction with Grimmjow and Ichigo to establish a brother's in arms kinda deal. We will be seeing Grimmjow and his crew throughout this story a lot more. Ichigo will be going back to his world in the next chapter and get a surprise later on.**_

 _ **See ya then.**_

 _ **Bye-bye.**_


End file.
